


Hamlet in an Aquarium

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Autistic Bucky Barnes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 05:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11284965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.” - Orson Welles





	Hamlet in an Aquarium

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleblackfox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleblackfox/gifts).



> To Fox. This isn't historical (shocking, I know), but it's the least I can give you, after all you have given me.

"O that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or, that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!"

People gathered in the hall to watch the performance. Some held their breath as the actor, clad all in black, delivered the first of Hamlet's soliloquies.

"It is not, nor it cannot come to good; But break my heart, — for I must hold my tongue!" The actor hung his head as he finished speaking, not seeing Steve enter the hall.

"Hail to your lordship." Steve fell to his knees before Bucky.

"I am glad to see you well." A hand was placed on Steve's shoulder, and blue eyes met grey ones. "— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?" Steve was raised to his feet.

"The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever." Steve smiled as he kissed Bucky's hand.

"Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you." Bucky dropped his hand from Steve's grip. "And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? — Marcellus!"

Sam walked into the hall, stopping just before Bucky. "My good lord."

\--

"Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell."

Steve, Sam, and Clint exited the hall, leaving Bucky alone once more. "My father’s spirit in arms. All is not well. I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come! Till then sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men’s eyes." He turned and left the hall to the sound of rapturous applause.

Peggy left her place on the sidelines and moved into the center of the hall, where she addressed the audience. "Thus concludes Scene Two of Act One. We will resume with Scene Three after a brief break."

Those who had been watching left for the exhibition hall, or to the outside of the aquarium, where there were sea lions and a koi pond. Peggy walked to the manta ray tank, where Bucky stood, the sleeves of his black button-up rolled halfway up his biceps, exposing the well-defined muscle, as well as the full-sleeve tattoo he sported all down his left arm, from before his shoulder to his fingertips.

"Hey," she said, sidling up to him, working her own sleeves up and dipping a well-manicured hand into the tepid water.

"Hey yourself," he responded, a manta swimming under his fingers, its skin cool and slippery.

"You were great out there. You really captivate the audience."

He could only grumble in response. Their usual spot in Central Park had been taken, so the aquarium had been last minute.

"Hey man, sorry about the wait." Sam appeared on Bucky's other side, an iced coffee in hand, which he handed his fellow thespian, who took it with thanks on his lips.

"No problem man. I know how the wait can get." He sipped at the coffee, one hand still in the tank.

"Another iced coffee?" Peggy asked, concern in her voice.

Bucky nodded, pulling the cup away from his face to keep himself from drinking anymore. "It's my fourth one today." He paused, looking around the hall. "Have either of you seen Steve?"

Sam swallowed his mouthful of cappuccino. "I think he said something about looking around the Amazon Rainforest exhibit. If you're going after him, can you give him this?" He held up a styrofoam Starbucks cup.

"Sure thing." Bucky finished his coffee and threw the cup away, patted his hands dry on his pants, took the cup from Sam, and turned around. "I'll be back before the start of the next scene." He called as he headed down the hall.

"Take your time!" Peggy called after him.

Just as Sam had predicted, he found Steve in the Amazon Rainforest exhibit, looking at a python with such intensity that Bucky wondered if he envied the snake.

"Hey," he said, coming to stand at Steve's side. "Sam got you coffee."

Steve took it wordlessly, taking a sip while continuing to stare at the python. There was whipped cream on his lip, but Bucky didn't say anything. Finally, he licked his lips.

"So, what'd you get?" As if he didn't know already.

"Caramel macchiato." Steve replied before taking another sip.

They stood like that for a while, looking at the snake while Steve drank his coffee. When Steve finished, he takes Bucky's hand, leading him silently away from the python and the Amazon Rainforest exhibit. Bucky doesn't take in his surroundings, but lets everything become a blur, everything but Steve. He keeps Steve sharp and vibrant in his mind, letting everything else dim and fade, like an old painting.

Steve stops in a room, dark and empty. It takes a few minutes for Bucky's eyes to adjust to the lack of light, before his eyes fall upon a large cylindrical container in the center of the room. It is the only source of light in the room, and is filled with dark murky water, floor to ceiling. And in the water swim tens of bioluminescent jellyfish.

"Jellies!" Bucky beams, and Steve laughs.

"You like them?" He asks, looking at him like he was the whole world.

"I love them." Bucky said breathlessly, fighting the urge to run up to the glass. He felt Steve's hand tug at his once more.

"C'mon."

He let himself be lead to a seat that was covered in an itchy material. It felt funny on Bucky's skin. He didn't like it.

"Buck? Something wrong?"

He must've looked uncomfortable, because Steve was looking at him with that worried look, the one Bucky hated, where his brows knit together and a deep frown creased his face.

Bucky licked his lips before speaking. "I...I don't like the material. It's..." He chewed his lip, trying to think of the right word. "It's too, um...too scratchy." He ran his hand along the bench, stifling a shudder. No, he definitely didn't like the dark grey...whatever it was.

"My necessaries are embarked. Farewell. And, sister, as the winds give benefit and convey is assistant, do not sleep, but let me hear from you."

He could hear Pietro's lines from down the hall. The third scene had started.

And immediately after-- "Do you doubt that?". Wanda's line. He was late, he had to get back, but...what had Peggy said? _Take your time_ she had told him, before he went looking for Steve. Take your time. Take your time.

"Take your time." Steve's hand was on his cheek, _when did his hand get there?_ , and he was rubbing it in slow circles. The sensation felt good, it kept Bucky grounded.

"Can I kiss you?" Steve dropped his hand.

Bucky didn't speak, only nodded, and then Steve was pressing their lips together, and tangling a hand in Bucky's hair as Bucky scrabbled to find some part of Steve he could grab hold of, something to anchor himself to him. His hands wandered until they reached the collar of Steve's heavy jacket, grabbing onto it and not letting go, even when Steve pulled away. His hands kept them close, and Steve pressed their foreheads together, so they shared the same heat and same breath.

"Look to ’t, I charge you. Come your ways." That was Tony's line, and Wanda's response: "I shall obey, my lord."

"We have to go." Bucky scrambled to his feet, not letting go of Steve's collar and pulling him up with him. They bolted down the hall, getting there just in time.

"The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold."

Steve's response came: "It is a nipping and an eager wind."

"What hour now?"

"I think it lacks of twelve."

"No, it is struck." Sam fell in line behind Steve.

"Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season wherein the spirit held his wont to walk." Horns and cannons sounded near the hall. Steve continued: "What does this mean, my lord?"

Bucky answered: "The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse, keeps wassail and the swaggering upspring reels, and, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, the kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out the triumph of his pledge."

Bucky's eyes met Steve's and they shared a smile, reciting Shakespeare to each other in a room where manta rays swam.

**Author's Note:**

> So Bucky started out really confident and neurotypical, then slowly morphed into a much less confident and much more autistic version of himself. I guess he became a reflection of me in that sense. The aquarium this fic is set in is the Long Island Aquarium, which I visited countless times growing up.


End file.
